Filipino food for the win: Lechon, kare-kare, and crispy pata among Taste Atlas’ world’s best dishes

Hollaaaaaa — your favorite Filipino fare just got some love from online food database Taste Atlas, which on Saturday published its list of the top 100 dishes in the world.

Three dishes from the Philippines were included: lechon (suckling pig), kare-kare (meat and vegetable stew in thick savory peanut sauce), and crispy pata (deep fried pig knuckle served with a soy-vinegar dip).

Kare-kare. Photo: Limbaga 77 Cafe Restaurant/FB

Alas, adobo — a dish where meat is marinated in vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, and black pepper — did not make the cut, although many say it is the Philippines’ national dish. However, Taste Atlas did include adobo in this separate list that breaks down widely loved national dishes by country.

Taste Atlas is an online global food map promoting the local culinary culture of countries all over the world. It describes itself as “a world atlas of food and drinks.” The website has about 10,000 entries of region-specific dishes, drinks, and ingredients, which, according to the site’s founder, is compiled by his own team of editors and researchers who put together the database based on newspaper and magazine articles they are able to find.

Crispy pata. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Other Coconuts cities’ dishes that made it to the list are Thailand’s pad thai and som tam (papaya salad), Singapore’s laksa and char kway teow, Malaysia’s nasi lemak, and Indonesia’s satay and rendang.

Elsewhere on the globe, Japan’s sushi, Spain’s paella, Mexico’s burrito, the UK’s fish and chips, and Vietnam’s pho also get spots on the list. No surprises there.

Taste Atlas’ full list of the world’s top 100 dishes can be found here.